


Ready Fuels

by LieutenantLoot



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Bad Days, Bad Puns, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Drama, F/M, Relationship Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:17:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieutenantLoot/pseuds/LieutenantLoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck on a pointless mission in Lynchwood, Axton has a rather morbid version of a 'bad day'. He's losing his patience and temper - as well as a beloved lady.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready Fuels

“Ya gonna die like ol’ grandma did! I’ll take yer corpse and –“

A marauder’s rising battle cry to his left, Axton stood in the middle of Lynchwood. The soldier’s bullets reached the bandit before he could explain what was supposed to happen to his dead body; presumably it would have been sexually disgusting but still creative as usual.

 

A giggling high pitched noise to his right reminded him on how much he hated that town. The small streets between the houses and a shitload of marauders made every visit a pain in the arse.   
Not to mention the mission that brought the part of the squad to the Sherriff’s territory: Scooter had asked them to care for a domestic skag. A _skag_.  
He tried to ignore that he blew men’s brains out for a fucked up dog - he’d probably already killed for less than that – but still his mood swung over. The bluffing and screaming bandits, the heat and even the damn train rushing through every now and then annoyed the shit out of him.   


The only reason he was even attending this blood spattered rave was screaming “Grenade!” just after he took out the midget who desperately failed hitting him in the knee, probably aiming for his crotch. Nasty little fuckers.  
He found the grenade lying on the ground dangerously close to him and sprung behind the next best shelter he could find. The ground was shaking mildly as it exploded and he could feel the heat from the sudden fire. As if the burning sun wasn’t providing enough heat already.   


Under the melodic voices of burning bandits, Axton looked out for Maya who had warned him in the battlefield. Her blue toned hair stood out against the warm sand and puddles of blood around them so she was quite easy to spot.

She had insisted on taking care of this mission and lurked him with loot and money into joining her. She probably wasn’t even in for the reward; it was the skag that kept her interest. To find it, they had to fight their way through to the end of the railways, meaning the animal was worth killing a whole army of bandits. That dog messed as much with her as she messed with him.

 

The commando sighed under his breath and stepped around the wall he was hiding behind. Within the blink of an eye, the plaster took some bullets that originally were meant for his guts.  
An embarrassed “Sorry…!” was yelled towards him and he told himself that he either had to rely on Maya’s sometimes sloppy aiming or that he would have to wear neon pink in battlefield later on to keep himself away from friendly fire.   
  
“’Tsokay.” He grunted back and made his way to the center of the small town. As usual, it wasn’t over after the first few dead marauders since the second wave had also bruisers and nomads waiting hungrily for them.

An assault rifle in his hands, he pressed himself into the corner of a house nearby, so he could take the moment of surprise to take out the most badass ones. Maybe he was able to kill them even before one could make a stupid remark about his mother.  


“You son of a sheep fucked by a goat! I’ll shove you back into the utero you crawled out of!”

So he wasn’t.

 

A few shots were fired, guns were reloaded and blood was spilled. The same shit Lynchwood offered over and over again.

In his back, the well-known glow of the siren’s phaselock shined down on a few bandits pinning one of them. He made sure she was alright on her own and focused on a large bruiser then. The soldier always wondered about the half-naked buff monsters and couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard the squeaking high voices threatening him.

Not even the creaky death threats or last whimpers could lighten Axon’s mood today but a bundle of dollar notes next to the body of a shot bandit caught his attention and was able to turn that frown upside down for once.   
Carefully he picked up the dollar bills and thought about keeping the burnt ones for cheating on a drunken night of playing cards. A few intact ones were stuck beneath the weight of the lifeless body, so he rolled it to the side by giving it a cruel-hearted kick to the ribs. Maybe money and dishonoring brutality could help brightening his day.

 

Hands still on the ground sorting unimpaired and used ammo, the ex-military remarked the growing noises behind his back. While he stayed unnoticed, Maya had pulled the attention towards herself and fought in a very brutal metal festival. Currently they switched from the preparations of the wall of death into the mosh pit phase with bandits whirling around her, ready run her over.   


The implicitness of supporting her brought Axton back on his feet. He wouldn’t be fast enough to assist her and on that distance, he’d risk shooting her while aiming for enemies around her for the rifle’s lack of accuracy.  
For a moment he remembered his manners and wiped his blood covered hands on his pants. This wasn’t the way a lady should be treated.

So he reached right above his shoulder and grabbed the compressed bundle next to his neck. With a few updates including longbow elements, he was able to throw it towards Maya and even reach her. Within a few seconds, the turret assembled itself, building up a shield and firing salve after salve.   


Before he could approach her, she already had phased the next nomad and moved on fighting, yelling a “Thanks!” over her shoulder. Since the turret was the fastest and probably also the best support he could offer, he changed back to his old-man-on-a-garage-sale pace and shifted his eyes to the ground examining the loot sprawled around.  
A few dusty repeaters laid in the sand, but in a short distance, a shotgun caught his attention. He shot a glance over to Maya and figured out that the shield was already down but both of his favorite ladies kept on scattering ammo around nevertheless. -Time to check out the sweet thing in front of his feet.

 

He compared the stats to the riot gun he carried on and brushed his fingers over the barrel: It didn’t seem to be damaged. He was about to go in for a quick reload to rate the pace as a loud bang made his head snap.

  
A slag barrel had exploded pretty close to Maya, its content splattering over the few bandits, the huntress and the turret. Before he even recognized he was on his feet, dashing towards her instinctively.

He was stopped instantly by a second explosion that was so forceful it even tossed the turret into the entrance of a bandit’s hideout building. Through the sudden flash he could barely make out the bruiser with a rocket launcher resting on his shoulder, giggling around.   
The bandit prepared to set a second rocket and Axton fired some bullets poorly from the hip but achieved nothing but minor hits. Rather scratches. Still, the soldier tried to dodge next to Maya and stumbled into her, maybe being useful as a human shield at least.

  
This was when the second rocket hit.   
And it hit well.

Axton couldn’t help but yelp when he saw the rocket hitting the already damaged turret. The impact of the explosion flung a stray repeater from the ground into an acid barrel. It broke straightaway, spilling burning acid all over the place, including the turret.   
And since it wasn’t already enough for the fine mechanics and Axton’s heart, the overhead door smacked down to crush his baby into pieces.

 

Axton pushed himself from half crouching up on his feet again. His hands still on the siren, he swept a few drops of trickling fluidity of slag from her face. In different circumstances, his dirty mind would have had blurted out a remark. But right now, there was nothing but the sound blood rushing through his ears in his head.   
Maya stared at him with wide eyes. Maybe she understood the pain and coldness growing in his stomach crawling up his spine - or maybe she just wondered about the missing sexual assault.

Either way, she didn’t dare to make a move as he shifted to push his hair back, leaving bloody streaks on his forehead.   


Back in the old man’s pace, he strolled to the bruiser being responsible for that chain reaction they just witnessed. What beautiful show.

The bruiser fumbled on the launcher to reload it as fast as he could but certainly not fast enough.

With a firm grip, Axton ripped it out of the bandit’s rigid fingers, continued reloading it with clenched teeth and brought it to his own shoulder.   
A blink of an eye and an ear-piercing report later, a disgusting dripping splatter sound called out the end of that condemned existence in front of him. The short distance for the shot caused not only a heavy kickback, but also a goddamn mess on the military.   
He dropped the rocket launcher negligently and wiped the blood and clumps of whatever was left of the bruiser from his eyes.    


While he stumbled over to the bigger parts of the sabre turret left, he unheedingly shot at the last remaining bandits. Not that he cared if he really hit them; he was busy evaluating the damage on the mechanical components.

 

“That was cruel… Are you alright?” Maya hesitated to ask and took out a marauder rather precisely. If possible, she grew even paler than she usually was – weather because of worry or disgust was hard to tell.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He shrugged and picked up a ripped metal piece, turned it around in his hands and appraised the burnt surface.  
“Ya know what else’s cruel? This shit.” He mumbled.

 

From her distance, Maya could make out a bigger chunk of the autogun right where the gate had hit it. Around that spot, a puzzle was sprawled out in the dirt. Corrosion and mechanics weren’t too good friends and for a moment, she wondered if someone hit the barrel on purpose if it wasn’t for the bandits' stupidity.

 

Since the commando was busy picking up the shards of the turret and also his broken heart, Maya took the chance to clear out the small town of Lynchwood. A few bandits try to run for their life after the bruiser exploded like the barrels did before but she made up her sloppy aiming from before and took them out with a sniper. Except for their screams in distance and the train rushing through, the town had fallen silent.

After a few seconds, the siren still didn’t know what to say. Maybe the commando wasn’t hard to read but still hard to handle. So she stayed in a few meters distance, switching in between of watching out for her teammate and for loot.

 

Axton on the contrary tried desperately to keep himself shut. There was a whole army of pretty dirty curses that were able to compete with Krieg’s creativity trying to escape his throat. When he held the still warm metal in his fingers, he couldn’t decide between sobbing sadness and boiling rage.

It felt like picking limbs of his very own body from the sand and eventually they were probably as easy to assemble.

This was probably the way he felt for Roland’s death if hadn’t been a soldier just like him.

 

“Come on, Ax, maybe if we can save the intact components, you can fix it?” Maya mentioned making a few steps towards him.

 

He breathed out calmly and tried to head back to rational thoughts: This whole happening was an accident; there were probably some parts he could easily patch and maybe even a few rather demolished ones he could manage to work again.

But the more precisely he looked at the twisted and acid burnt pieces, the harder it was to hold on to believing that he could repair the machine once again.

 

“Yeah, _if_ we find them – and I’m certainly not an engineer so I can build this damn thing up from nowhere.” He sighed and shifted a few smaller pieces to sort them out.

If it was an option, he even considered to take over a Hyperion’s artillery piece and dismount it right in the battlefield. However, Hyperion’s technical equipment was probably designed insidious enough to wreck the Dahl turret completely. And mock him afterwards.

 

“Maybe Gaige can help you?” Maya stepped closer, still hesitating a little.

 

“God, I want the sabre to kill my enemies, not me!” Axton huffed and stopped sorting the fragments into smaller piles. He kept a piece in his hands and tried to move an element that broke off almost immediately.  
“Also, mechanical limbs are rad shit but that wouldn’t suit me, huh? Can’t flex that shit, how am I supposed to show off?”

She expected dirty joke after or at least a grin with that but he missed out on that. This whole situation was more serious than she thought.

 

“Then… what about Scooter?” she asked bluntly.   


“I won’t let that redneck touch ma lady, ‘kay?!” he snapped and shot her a disgusted look.

Maya sighed at the thought that in every occasion but this today he would have had talked about her instead of the turret.

 

„Your Lady, huh…?“ Maya rolled her eyes. She gave her best to hide the disappointment leaking onto the surface. However, shifting her weight to one hip and crossing her arms on her chest rather gave her an annoyed and arrogant look than the firmly calm one she was aiming for.

In the moment of silence her eyes fell on the sharp piece of metal in Axton’s hands and wandered back to his concerned face. Presumably, the siren would never understand why the turret meant more than a fellow soldier to him.

 

“Don’t shoot me that look.” He growled and ripped her out of wondering about the emotional bonding. If it didn’t dealt with his usual mechanics and gun fetish, it was about his military past or his wife. There weren’t too many options that Axton offered when it came to show honest feelings like anger and sadness.

 

“I just don’t get why you’re making such a big deal out of it.” She uttered helplessly, shoulders sinking.

 

A mixture of a harsh version of a 'bad day' and the blood and dirt spilled over him made the soldier’s presence rather animalistic. The upcoming rage in his face gave the rest to it and Maya knew that this afternoon wouldn’t end with both of them walking back to the train station happily holding hands. Not that one of them was out for that anyway.

 

“How about we’ll saw ya left arm off and see how much ya gettin’ me then, eh?”

The commando in front of her grinned bitterly like an acid skag and huffed just like one. He probably never has been looking more like a rough bandit before, she assumed. Again, under different circumstances…  
She shook her head to get lost of the train of thought.

 

“That’s something completely different.” She muttered.

 

In response, he moved back on his feet and built himself up in front of her, turning the skag he resembled into an alpha one.   
He stepped over a dead marauder in his way to shorten the distance between the two vault hunters and lurked at her from a few steps apart. Maya told herself that the only reason for safety distance was flying spit but still she noticed a slight nervousness in her limbs.

 

“Ya siren powers are the only thing you can rely on on this goddamn planet, right? Besides that, you’re left with bad aiming and being short on ammo. It’s just like that with me and the sabre.”

Of course, a good explanation started with an assault. Under his sometimes even charming disguise skulked a rough bandit she only knew from arguments and dirty fights.

“See, we’re both completely useless without our specialties; this thing was the only thing saving my bloody arse from dying for years. And if it wasn’t for you today, I’d still have my back-up.”

 

While Axton noticed that he hadn’t hesitated a second giving the turret and himself as a shield in for Maya, she noted that he clearly found fault for the destruction with her. It would have been too easy if it had been vice versa.

 

“It’s _my_ fault? That was an accident! The bruiser tried to blow me up, remember?!” she wavered towards the spattered markings the bruiser had left. His eyes followed her gesture and silently, he scratched a crust of semidried blood off of his cheek, leaving a red stain under his nails.   
“Since you can’t mend it and your ego’s too immense to ask for help, well then we’ll find you a new autogun if it keeps you from suicide.”

 

For a second he gasped for air and his fierce brows rose in excitement. Maya couldn’t believe her eyes; the sudden change from wrath to euphoria caught her off-guard.

“Yeah, sure!” he nodded quickly, “I’ll just head back to Dahl, say ‘hi’ to my ex-wife, won’t let her hang nor shoot me and steal another goddamn turret, easy as it can be.”

Oh, there was the fly in the ointment– bitter sarcasm ended his sentence and the frown reappeared in his face, guided by anger. He let his frustration out and kicked shamelessly into a marauder, swirling up dusty clouds of sand. Changing back to lighten his mood by pure brutality failed again.

 

Maya snorted snidely and repressed the urge to hit the commando straight into the face. She stiffened as she saw his shoulders fall and him shifting the tiniest bit closer to her.

 

“See, I went AWOL and even before I left the planet, this thing” his gaze moved back to the metal in his hands “saved me.” As his movement relaxed, his voice also softened to a hoarse tone.   
“I was all alone but this. My only back-up. On a sudden, no one was watchin’ my back anymore and to be honest, I’d’ve never been a lone fighter. - I learned to be one.” His gaze went back to the object in his hands and Maya squinted her eyes in confusion. Sometimes this man was more drama than she could manage.

“I guess it’s just hard to be all on ma’ own now, ya’ know… got lazy over the time; now I have to shift back to Rambo-mode.” The almost bitter smile on his face was the final straw.

 

Usually, even when hell broke loose, Maya was a rather calm part of the squad. She never lost her nerves over the suddenly burning psycho or the blind shooting of the stumbling gunzerker.   
But now, she clenched her fists and anger crawled upon her face.   


“Do you even realize that you _do_ have a back-up? That you have a full squad of vault hunters fighting alongside with you?” she gnarled at him with piercing eyes. The arm’s length between both of their tense bodies decreased even a little more.  
She couldn’t deny the fact that she felt physical tension between them before however it had never felt so violent. She always thought of him as a guy who was too much of a gentleman to hit a woman. The bandit in front of her made her wonder if she was right all along.

Axton chuckled and looked down on her in disbelief, even though their eyes almost met on one level. 

 

“The whole team supports you; every single one of us is willing to take a bullet for you - hell, even die for you, and that’s not good enough for the great combat-leading Axton?” Maya spat out in disgust. Sometimes she wondered what he had accomplished that made his ego grow heavier than Brick’s and Krieg’s bodyweight. Except for sleeping with his boss.

 

“Ya guys brought me more problems than you’re helping me out of. Every single one of you is a troublemaker..." He stated surprisingly calm and shoved the piece of the turret from one hand into the other. By now, the dust and edges had stained his hands and caused a few cuts.

 

Maya’s eyes wandered from his hands back up to his face again, realizing that he was dead serious.

“Are you crazy?” she asked slowly and clearly. Maybe the kickback from the launcher had caused a concussion. Or a bullet was stuck up in his brain. Even for his ego, this statement was so disgustingly ironic that she almost had to hold back laughter.

“You tell us to causing trouble? While you are the one who takes mission after mission for a few bucks? While your ego has to compete to every bar fight? While you almost killed the whole squad for driving ass drunk?”

She desperately tried to remember that this argument dealt with the missing turret and her being the reason or not and that it actually wasn’t about Axton’s ego. 

 

“Stop playin’ the moral ranger here; don’t fuckin' nun me like that, I –“ He started to huff but was stopped by Mayas finger poking his chest.

 

“Firstly, don’t call me that.” She paused for a second and the fierce look in her eyes ensured that this was serious business now. Without even noticing, they had swapped roles in this argument; while Axton was silently stuck up in wondering what Maya was up to, she rambled and stoked up her rage.

“And secondly: Shut that ego down. You certainly aren’t capable to be a one man army, even if you’d like to. Maye you were back at Dahl but now you don’t have the hint of a chance.”

 

The soldier’s eyes stuck to his own hands and he couldn’t repress a growl while she was still talking. His clenching teeth muffled the sound but still it was loud enough for the siren to hear.

“Can’t believe I’m dispraised by a girl...”

 

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

With a quick movement, she gripped Axton’s hands and wrenched the piece of metal out of his tensed fingers. The short ‘cling’ sound when it was thrown and landed on the stocked up rest of the turret made his eyes snap back to Maya’s.

 

“Sure. Ya have my attention. I’m yours. Now talk, goddamnit.” He hissed and let his hands fall loosely next to his hips. By now, he wasn’t sure anymore if he intended to call her a girl instead of a woman in first place.  
Either way, she wasn’t too fond of it – with narrowing eyes, she continued faulting him. By that, it was easier to ignore the small words of commitment he just uttered.

 

“Think of your squad instead of your glorious self for once. You aren’t the demigod of war you think you are - Why do you need protection from a scraped piece of metal if you can have five bloody killers like yourself on your side?” She asked, probably rhetorically.

He looked her dead in the eye but didn’t care to answer her question. They turned in cycles, he already made his reasons clear before.

 

“What does it offer that we can’t?”  
Apparently, she didn’t understand.  
“What does it offer that _I_ can’t?” She howled. Her shoulders fell in frustration.

 

When she realized that the commando wasn’t going to respond to her last question either, she couldn’t help but grunt in annoyance. She straightened herself and searched for the calmness she used to have.

“Fine, then have a nice chitchat with yourself. I’m off.”  
Firm like the cold goddess she used to be worshipped for she turned him her back and took a few steps. This argument was going nowhere and if it went on like this, someone would get hurt. Not the usual hurt but the deep emotional one. She gave her best not to look like she was fleeing, not sure if from him or her own thoughts.

 

An annoyed sigh in her back caught her attention.   
“C’mon, ya can’t walk away like this…! Don’t be childish.”

She turned on her heels.

 

If it wasn’t for the rage boiling up in her veins, she probably would have had noticed that Axton was desperately searching for words to actually answer and soothe her. Unfortunately, he snapped too fast and thought too slow for her temper. Instead of using his mind’s capacity for a decent response, he wondered why in god’s name he was said to be a lady’s man. The longer he knew the siren in a few steps distance from him the harder it was too keep up with the rumor.

 

“What did you just call me?” Maya’s voice was stone cold and sharp as shards of glass. Her taking a step towards him caused him chills down his spine.

 

“Childish…?” Axton repeated bluntly. No turning back now.

His mind caught the idea of a smooth transition to the fact that his own behavior was childish, too, and that his ego was a burden and a companion for lifetime - but the thought was punched out of his brain within the blink of an eye.

Literally.

Maya had closed the gap between them and hit him straight in the face; she wasn’t out for a bitch’s slap but the good old fist to the jaw. Instinctively he grabbed her wrist with one hand, keeping her from a second strike. His other hand was tracing the damaged part of his cheek with his fingers and he ignored that the echo interface warned him for a duel coming up.   
It had been a long time since the commando what hit this baldly. Years, to be honest for him having a rough start at the military forces. Besides the pain in his cheek he felt the smallest bit of proudness.   
Indeed, she was just the way he liked his ladies.

  
Heavily breathing Maya looked down to her knuckles turning red already. A few seconds passed by and the adrenaline left her limbs leaving a disgusting trace of guilt behind. She didn’t dare to take a look at his face yet. Her punch would cause a good bruise on his face and her hands and she already feared the upcoming questions from her teammates. She never had thought that she ever would be on this side of an abusive relationship.

 

“Take me seriously, Axton.” She mumbled, eyes fixed to her bare hand in his tight grip. “We’re supposed to be everything you need in combat. I don’t get why the turret should be better than us. Than me.” Her low voice showed more vulnerability than she meant to but both of them had already proved that this afternoon wasn’t exactly the one for controlled moods and actions.

 

Axton took a sharp breath.   
Apparently he was the one who hadn’t understood.

He definitely had to make up for his renown.

 

“Well, mah turret hasn’t punched me in the face yet, so…”  


The siren’s hand twitched in his grip but it was solid enough to prevent the tiniest movement.

 

“And she never mistook me for a bandit and tried to shoot me.” He continued listing. Maya grit her teeth, muscles in her arms tense. She told herself that kicking him in the shin wasn’t a considerable option now.

“Oh, and she also had never picked at me for my ego.”

 

Just the fact that it was ‘her’ instead of ‘it’ let a growl escape her throat. She didn’t give a shit about calmness since her self-control laid somewhere pretty far behind her; there was no semblance of sedateness left to loose.

 

“Fuck, Axton, it doesn’t watch out for you. It can’t pull you back on your feet when you fell; it can’t pull you back to earth when you’re too cocky. It can’t share its last bit of ammo with you. It can’t stitch you up after missions. It can’t love you back, goddamnit.”

Somewhere around her words her voice broke and her throat felt even hoarser than the commando’s usually sounded like. However she ignored it as well as the feeling of blush in her face.

 

“But you can?”

His tone was just a bit too serious for still mocking her.

 

When she found the courage to peek at his face, she found a wide grin and bemused eyes.

 

“I… do.” Maya whispered shakily. Still serious.

 

Also she discovered a red stain on his cheek that she simply chose to ignore; at least she wasn’t the only one around blushing.  
However she couldn’t ignore the honest smile in his face and his hand pulling her a little bit closer if even possible.

 

“Jeez, I’m a guy for monogamous relationships, ya’ know, and I was already scared I had to decide between mah’ ladies - but damn, you hadn’t had to kill her for getting’ mah’ attention…” He purred and Maya felt her pale skin glowing red like a goliath’s.

 

“Oh cut it.” Maya snarled.

She closed the gap between them and pressed her lips onto his, their hands still tucked together.

Typically she wasn’t the person for emotional behavior but today wasn’t exactly normal at all. And it wasn’t like it had been easy with Maya and Axton all along anyway.

 

“So, since we got that goin’…” Axton mumbled when she let go of him in a suspicious innocent tone, “How long ya’ think it will take us to pick up the pieces?” He pointed to the rest of the sabre behind them.

Maya sighed in desperation.  
Monogamous her ass.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for a not beta'd story again.  
> This started as a prompt on a duell between Maya and Axton but turned out to be way to mild, so until a real duell comes up, I'll continue sailing happily on the fluffy side of the ship~  
> (The title was stolen shamelessly from the song by Anberlin.)


End file.
